Program Feature Series: Nature and Environment

In this article we are featuring the program module for nature and environment from the Program Features for Troops, Teams and Crews Volume 3. (You can also read this article for more information on how to plan using the program resources.)

Taking Care of Our Home

“Few Americans spend more time in the outdoors than Scouts. Whenever you camp, hike, or go boating, you are surrounded by nature. If you’re lucky, you may catch a glimpse of a bald eagle soaring high overhead or a days-old fawn skittering through the trees. But even if the rarest creature you see is a squirrel, you’ll still enjoy the whisper of the wind through the trees and the endless array of colors and scents all around you.

This month’s activities will help you learn more about the outdoors. You will learn about birds, animals, plants, and other living things—and you’ll discover your responsibility to care for the planet we all share. When you have tried these activities, you will want to learn more, experience more, and care more for the natural world, until you feel truly at home in outdoor environments.”

PREOPENING IDEAS

Set up laptops or tablets so Scouts can go virtual birding as
they enter the meeting.

On a table, place numbered leaves from various plants and trees. Have Scouts write the name of each plant on a piece of paper next to its corresponding number. The Scout with the most correct answers gets a prize at the end of the meeting. New members can work in small groups while older Scouts can participate individually.

GAME AND CHALLENGE IDEAS

Bird Art Gallery
– Materials: Twenty pictures, each depicting a different kind of bird, numbered but not identified; pencil and a sheet of paper for each Scout
– Method: Post the pictures on the walls around the room. Allow the Scouts to move about with their pencils and papers and try to identify the bird in the pictures. Without consulting each other, they write down the names on their sheets. After a certain time limit, all sheets are turned in for judging.
– Scoring: Add the number of correct identifications made by each patrol and divide by the number of members to get the average. The patrol with the highest average wins.
– Notes: Depending on the challenge presented by the birds you’ve selected and the expertise of the Scouts, you may want to allow patrols to use field guides.

Edible Plants Who’s Who
– Materials: Twenty (or more) edible plants, each in a numbered No. 10 can; a card at each can that gives the name of the plant and the part that is edible (for instance, “Cattail: pollen for flour, shoot for greens, root (rhizome) for starch”); pencil and paper for each player
– Method: Patrols walk silently around the cans as they read the descriptive cards and try to learn about the plants and their
edible parts. All of the identifying cards are then removed. The patrols again walks around the cans. Scouts try to identify and list all the plants and their edible parts. Each patrol goes into a huddle and makes a list of plant names and edible parts.
– Scoring: Score 5 points for each plant correctly identified. The patrol with the most points wins.

Circle of Life
– Materials: Twenty or more pictures of different producers, consumers, predators, prey, and decomposers
– Method: Place all pictures face down on the table. Patrols take turns flipping two cards and trying to make matching pairs of a category. (For example, lichens and worms would match because they are both decomposers.) If a matching pair is made, the patrol keeps those two cards. If the pair is not a match, the pictures are turned back over.
– Scoring: The patrol to make the most matching pairs wins.